At the pre-match press conference Magnus Carlsen revealed the identity of two of his seconds (assistants), two names who were already known by "everyone" anyway: "the Dane" - Peter Heine Nielsen - and "the Hammer" - Jon Ludwig Hammer. Now, on his blog, we get the full picture:

That's a pretty impressive collection of helpers, and now I wonder if Viswanathan Anand was overmatched when it came to assistance. If anything, Anand's performance in the openings and early middlegames is even more impressive when considering the array of helpers Carlsen had at his disposal - but then we don't know who else might have been helping Anand behind the scenes in addition to his declared seconds.

I also believe that Carlsen derived a tangible advantage from the defection of Nielsen and his work as a Second for Anand . When you add their overall friendship to the mix you can certainly understand the sense of Awe of Carlsen, fear and trepidation that many alluded to. Carlsen's choice of the King's Indian Attack may well have been an inside joke as they use to trade lines from Monty Python's show.

[DM: You're welcome to believe it, but it's an evidence-free claim. Every GM I've seen discussing the matter (including Carlsen himself) thinks that on balance Anand was superior in the opening. It's even less sensible when one compares this year to last: Anand did much better when Nielsen helped Carlsen.]

Kasparov was in a similar position when facing Kramnik. The type of discomfort Kasparov must have felt can only be similar to suspecting your opponent is getting outside help or knows your opening book which caused him to blunder and fall apart against Deep Blue.

[DM: Both Kasparov and Kramnik learned things from each other, but one thing Kramnik certainly didn't learn from Kasparov was how the latter would meet the Berlin. These guys are not static targets, and the amount of fresh work Kasparov did between 1995 (the time of the Anand match when he was assisted by Kramnik) and 2000 (when he played Kramnik for the championship) was colossal. Heck, this is even true for a comparative fish like me who plays only sporadically. My repertoire has significant differences from what it looked like five years ago, both in breadth and in depth.]

It is never a good idea to invite a future rival in your inner circle but Karpov kept a young Kasparov at arm's length but Kasparov defeated him anyway.

[DM: Surprisingly, this too is at odds with the facts. Karpov tried to enlist Kasparov as one of his helpers for the 1981 match with Korchnoi, but Kasparov refused!]